The Truth
by TT-Avatar-FruitBasket-Ouran
Summary: Johnny doesn't listen to his group, and is injured. This is mainly their thoughts, and they begin to blame him, but still talk to him. He begins to start fighting with them, and threatens to quit-when his condition worsens. They realize how badly they need Johnny Storm, and they might not get to keep him. No weird pairings, just Reed and Susan, along with Ben and Alicia.
1. Chapter 1

**I just couldn't help myself.. the idea was so tempting!**

**A/N: I've made a story like this before, twisting the injury idea around to my own personal advantage (I dunno why, it just makes the stories so much sweeter and more understandable/easy to relate to for me) But I know other people like reading it this way too and thought I'd throw it out there**.** Hopefully this will be a sweet story.**

**Anyways, my full summary is that Johnny is injured, and the whole team begins to think about him, and what he means. There are several different things that happen that I'm used in my other stories (like the injuries I've used before multiple times) so I'm sorry if they aren't very original... **

**Enjoy! :3**

* * *

Susan, in her invisible girl outfit, ran swiftly after the shooter. The person had pulled a gun out in a bank, demanding money, and the team happened to be eating at Ben's favorite pizza place at the time.

Reed was also chasing the masked bandit, who was running much faster than before. It occurred to Reed that there probably wasn't a normal person who could run this fast for so long, seeing how both Ben and Sue were getting tired. The only reason Reed could keep going was his long legs.

And I mean _LONG_ legs.

"Where's Johnny?" Sue demanded quickly.

They all looked around, fearful that Johnny might be hurt, but then soon those thoughts were replaced with the idea that he were still eating or possibly flirting with their waitress at the pizza place. Ben growled in anger and charged after the shooter faster. _Irresponsible little-_

"FLAME ON!" a voice shouted, and Johnny came flying at the shooter. He killed his flames and landed on the man, knocking the gun from his hands. Johnny and the man crashed into a blue mailbox with a loud thud, knocking out the shooter.

The other members were glad to stop running, and caught their breath. It had been a while since they had a robber or someone who they had to chase after, and that left them all in lazy shape.

Reed and Ben picked up the shooter, and Ben threw him over his shoulder. He turned his head and heard the police car sirens sounding, just in time to take the bad guy, collect the gun he had dropped when Johnny landed on him, and drove away with a cheerful thanks to our heroes.

"Johnny, are you okay?" Sue asked, pulling her younger brother up from the ground.

He frowned and gasped for air, dropping to his knees. "N-no.. I think.. I think he s-shot me.." Johnny said, closing his eyes. "S-suzie?" He said, calling her closer.

Ben rolled his eyes. "Off your knees, tha's not funny."

Sue had momentarily fallen for it, and glared down at him angrily. She slapped his arm and frowned, crossing her arms and returning to her husband, Reed.

"You're such a child, Johnny!" She said angrily.

Johnny grinned. "You do care, Suz!" He said, jumping up from his act and running over towards the rest of his team. "I thought you only care for your husband."

She frowned. "I won't care for you if you keep pranking me like that." And with that, the group continued to Baxter Building. Reed and Sue walked to the car, their finger intertwined until she had to get in the front passenger seat and he hand to get into the driver's seat, and then they intertwined their fingers once more.

Ben walked in thuds, 'thud-thud-thud-thud' until he reached the car and sat in his seat, which Reed had built differently so that it would support a thousand pound rock man. The car tilted a little as Ben sat down, but it held together nonetheless.

Johnny walked towards the car when a stranger caught his shoulder. Johnny felt a cold sensation in his shoulder and turned to see there wasn't anyone there. But the cold stayed there, and grew all around him, until he was shivering.

He shivered and looked around for a person, but saw no one.

"Johnny, we haven't got all day!" Reed called from the car impatiently.

Johnny turned to the car, looked around once more, and walked to his seat. He plunked into the chair, buckled in, and shut his door. But even with the heat on, Johnny still found himself shaking in the cold.

"Are any of you guys cold?" He asked, zipping up a jacket around his torso. _Better than just wearing spandex. _

Everyone but Reed, who was a very careful driver, looked at Johnny curiously. Reed glanced into his rear-view mirror at Johnny thoughtfully, then frowned.

"No," Reed said, taking a left down the street towards the Baxter Building. "Why?"

Johnny hesitated. He didn't want to be a lab rat under Reed's microscope to find out he was cold because he was standing outside in February. "No reason.."

"Johnny," Sue said in a bit of a nagging voice. "If you're cold then we need to be testing you. What if your powers are beginning to fade? What if you are sick?" She asked worriedly.

He scoffed. "Sis, you worry too much." He said, and with that, everything was quiet.

_Except for the chattering of teeth. _

"Tha's it." Ben said angrily. "I can' take all this chattering! Johnny, if you're cold, then somethin's wrong." He said, trying his best not to slam the window out with his fist.

Reed nodded in agreement, parking the car in front of the building and turning to face Johnny. "Ben's right. When we get upstairs I want to test your powers and see if you're sick." He stared at Johnny a moment, and added with a sense of urgency, "It looks like you're getting paler."

Johnny moaned angrily, and got out of the car. Everyone got out of the car, happy to be free, and marched into the Baxter Building and onto the elevator. When they arrived on their floor they all piled out, going their own ways.

Ben started to warm up some leftover pizza since he hadn't gotten to finish his first one. Sue began to clean, and miraculously fell asleep on the couch. It was shocking, but Reed confessed that she stayed up all night with him, working on one of his inventions.

Reed and Johnny, who wasn't very happy about it, walked into Reed's lab so that they could do some tests.

* * *

"I'm telling you, I'm totally fine!" Johnny said as his last test had ended. Reed had put him inside the room where they had first tested his fire abilities, and the results came back the same, except Johnny felt colder than before when he finished. They had checked his temperature, which was at a low 94.8 degrees, which extremely worried Reed.

They looked over various diseases and checked Johnny for each one, each coming back negative. Reed had no answer for any of this, and decided that Johnny just needed to lay back and relax until his temperature came back up. He covered Johnny in blankets and ordered him to sleep.

Sue woke up and Ben had finished all of the pizza, and they ran to Reed to ask for the diagnosis. Sue, so that she could take care of her hot-shot, annoying younger brother; and Ben so that he could give Johnny a hard time for it.

"So what's wrong with him?" Sue asked worriedly.

Reed sighed. "Nothing that I can find. I tested his powers- which work better than ever- and I tested him for every disease having to do with being cold. All of them came back negative..." He said, his mind drifting. "I've ordered him to sleep under some blanket to warm himself up enough that his temperature comes back to normal."

"It's below normal?" Ben asked, a frown present on his rock face.

"Yes." Reed said, wishing for a moment he hadn't said it in front of Sue, who now had a look of sick, worry, and fear written on her face and in her eyes.

She took a step backward, "What's his exact temperature?" She asked.

Reed hesitated, not wishing to upset her. "It's 94.8 degrees."

"Please tell me that's Celsius." She said, her eyes wide in fear.

He shook his head. "Fahrenheit."

They all sat down and began watching T.V., all thoughts on Johnny.

"Breaking News!" The T.V. shouted at them, making everyone sit forward and tune into the show. Johnny also sat up and started watching, holding the blanket around himself tightly. "A Shooter, earlier captured by none other than the Fantastic Four, has escaped prison, and is now on the streets, mugging and shooting-" The T.V. was turned off as the Fantastic Four prepared to go for another run.

Johnny hopped up from the couch, shivered for a moment, but put on his uniform and ran to the others. "I'm ready!"

"Johnny," Reed said, pulling his over-shirt off his suit. "You can't go. We can't have you sick and-"

"I'm not sick!" Johnny said indignantly. "And I'm going! You guys need me." He said, cocking his head and crossing his arms determinedly.

The others were about to protest, when he got onto the balcony. They all chased after him, trying to convince him to stay, when they heard, "FLAME ON!"

He jumped from the roof and flew up, when a gunshot sounded. Johnny's blue eyes became suddenly cold as he glanced at his team, and his fire went out. He began falling and falling, and landed with a sickening thud.

"JOHNNY!" Sue shouted.

Ben jumped off the balcony, landing on his strong feet on the ground. He ran towards Johnny, when he saw the shooter, his gun still warm in his hands. Ben jumped at the man, crushing the gun and holding him by his shirt. He was about to smash the man when the police arrived, handcuffing the man and putting him in the car, telling Ben they would be much more careful this time.

Ben, followed by the just arrived Sue and Reed, ran towards Johnny, who laid on the ground helplessly. The police who had taken the shooter called on their police radio for an ambulance, telling them what had happened.

"Johnny, are you alright?" Sue shouted at him, dropping to her knees beside his body.

He stared up at her, breathing raggedly. "B-better than e-ever..." He joked, his head turning slightly towards his sister. He coughed, wincing at each cough.

Susan found herself crying now. "Johnny, hold on, okay? There's an ambulance on it's way, okay?" She turned to Reed and Ben, who sat beside her. "What do I do?" she whispered.

"Johnny," Reed said, trying to sound calm. "What hurts?"

Johnny squinted his eyes in pain and gritted his teeth. "M-my side, m-my le-leg," he attempted to move his shoulder, and gasped for air. "My shoulder!" Johnny gasped out, his face paler than when Reed saw him in the car.

"Stay with us, Matchstick." Ben said with a grim smile(no pun intended), trying to keep Johnny awake.

Johnny laid there, blinking to keep himself up, while the others said stuff to him to keep him awake. Eventually he began shivering, which made him wince. "C-cold.." he told them.

None of them had any jackets, but luckily for them and crowd had grown around them, and multiple people were giving their winter coats for Johnny. Sue wrapped him in a red Jacket that a tall man had offered to her that she thought would be the most comfortable.

She touched his side and Johnny gasped painfully for air. Susan immediately drew her hand, and saw blood on her thin fingertips. "R-Reed!" she said worriedly, never being one to handle seeing blood.

He saw and covered up Johnny with the large coat. "Hang on there." Reed whispered.

A siren approached where they all sat, filling everyone up with hope. The people inside quickly hurried Johnny onto a gurney, and ran back inside of the ambulance. One attendant came up to the leftover Three, which looked much less fantastic.

"I think you can all get in," The person said, until her eyes met Ben. "But I don't think we have space for him."

Ben nodded grimly (once again, no pun intended), "I'll call Alicia and bring her up here. You guys go and let me know if anything happens." He said, looking disappointed.

Reed and Sue got inside the ambulance, and watched as the doors shut and they began driving, and the person in the ambulance began working feverishly to take care of Johnny. His eyes were still open, and he just stared at Sue and Reed. Reed held Sue tightly, making sure not to let her get even more worked up.

"I'm.. s-sor-ry.." Johnny whispered to them both, but only Reed heard since Sue was busy crying.

* * *

Sue and Reed sat in the waiting room, all of Sue's thoughts swimming.

_My stupid brother! _She thought angrily _Why can't he just listen to people? We knew he shouldn't have gone out there, but he was so stubborn! Maybe.. maybe if I had talked to him more, or if we had turned the T.V. down so it hadn't woken him up, then he'd still be sleeping, and Reed or I would be the shot ones. It wouldn't have exactly hurt Ben, though._

_But I couldn't live with myself if it were Reed, either. I mean, he's so amazing, and if he wasn't my husband, then I'd be lost. Maybe it should have been me who was shot. _

_Maybe none of us would have been shot. Maybe we would have had enough sense not to glow bright orange with fire in the sky, where every citizen and shooter could see us. But then again, Johnny couldn't have slipped past us otherwise._

_And for good reason! _She thought, gripping her hands into fists. _He should have stayed where we told him. Gosh, why couldn't he have just listened?_

A voice rang out in her head, saying, _That's who he is. _

For this, she started crying more. Maybe if she hadn't let him do all the crazy stunts he did as a kid, or maybe if she watched him more and gave him more attention so he didn't think he had to be insane for attention. She found a million ways that she could have pointed the finger at herself, and it made her feel even worse.

She heard a shout from one of the hospital rooms and more tears filled her eyes. She couldn't help but think it was Johnny, in a world were he knew no one, and he was hurting. She soon realized that it was in actuality, a small child getting a tetnis shot for scraping his knee of a fence.

Susan laughed to herself for a moment, but then felt her smile die away as she saw a doctor walking by her, looking very depressed. She wished and willed the man to walk by, and thankfully, the man passed her and came to another woman, sobbing loudly, to deliver the bad news, "Your friend has passed away."

Sue prayed in her head, _Please Lord, don't let Johnny die. Please, I need him! Despite the amount of bugging he gives me, or how obnoxious he is! Please don't let him die! Let him be okay!_

Reed, on the other hand, was doing all he could to keep his mind _off _of Johnny. He mentally reviewed, _DNA stands for deoxyrybo-neuclayic-acid, which builds the human and makes them who they are. It also makes Johnny a crazy person who doesn't listen to people. It also makes people go insane and start shooting heroes who save their loved ones from death. DNA was a strange thing, _Reed thought. He shook his head and scolded himself for finding a way to think of Johnny in all of his thoughts.

He tried once more, _When a cold front and a heat wave collide, it creates rain. Heat wave. Johnny. He was always really hot like a heat wave. I wonder if he could make it rain if he went Flame On and ran into a really cold breeze? Probably momentarily, if his powers still work. _

Reed once more scolded himself, and began to call Ben to see if he and Alicia were almost there. He heard a loud ringtone, and realized it was Ben's. Ben and Alicia turned the corner and sat down beside Reed and Sue, and began to bombard them with questions.

"How is he?"

"Do we know the damage yet?"

"Are they in surgery?"

"Is he still.." Ben gulped and gripped Alicia's hand as tight as he could without hurting her. "..alive?"

Sue burst out into more tears, since she had no idea of any of these answers herself. She kept crying, and Alicia started to hug and comfort her.

"We don't know how he is, or what's injured, or if they're in surgery yet. All we know is that he's alive." Reed said, relief flooding into Ben and Alicia's hearts.

Ben sighed. "I'd miss messing with the twerp." He said, a rusty smile etched on his face.

They all sat together in the waiting room, silently wondering what was going on with their crazy friend.

_That idiot. _Ben thought. _Maybe if he would listen once in a while, he wouldn't be lying in a hospital. It's his own darn fault for not listening to our directions. But I can understand, I guess. If I were sick, I wouldn't want to just sit around all day. Especially if I were like him. _

_I wonder if he's just A.D.D., and he wants more attention? _Ben silently laughed to himself, trying his hardest to hide his smile. _That would make sense, after all. But then again, he doesn't really act like that. I mean, of course he wants attention, but I've never known him to want attention for being injured. He was always, well, embarrassed when he was injured, right? Like, the time he had sprained his wrist, and he hid in his room all day._

_Whenever I made a joke, like, 'Looks like you need to be more careful', he got all embarrassed and ran back to his room, saying he needed to do something. I guess he's just really easily insulted? _This made it even harder for Ben not to laugh.

_No, he must just not like being seen as weak. That probably explains why when I tried to help his pick up the Xbox when his wrist was still sprained, he refused and tried picking it up himself, which resulted in his wrist being sprained even worse and the Xbox crushed his foot. _

_But still, despite that, he should know when he needs to rest or not. I mean, now his life is at risk, just because he wouldn't take a dang nap! Ugh! _Ben had to stop thinking on that subject, since he was getting too frustrated.

"Mrs. Richards?" A doctor broke all their thoughts.

_About time. It's been an hour! _Sue thought angrily, but she kept her face normal. "Yes, that's me!"

The doctor looked at all of them, and his heart leapt. He was meeting the Fantastic Four! "Johnny is alive, and he is doing pretty well for all that happened." All of them smiled brightly, so happy to hear these words.

"What are his injuries?" Reed asked, smiling and hugging his wife happily.

The doctor sighed, recalling all the injuries. "He was shot on his left side, but that was only a flesh wound, so he's alright there. He landed on his left side, breaking his collarbone on the left side, dislocating his left shoulder, but his right leg was broken near the patella. Other than that, he has multiple bruises and a few broken ribs. When he landed, we expect that he hit his head, so he has some head trauma and will probably have a headache for a while. His head injury may also result in amnesia, but we can't know until you speak to him." The doctor waited for them to ask another question, so he continued: "He has a breathing tube in his nose, since he has been having trouble breathing. He had a coughing fit earlier, so we ask you not to make him laugh for a little while."

Ben, Reed, and Sue all exchanged looks. Somehow, they all knew that he was going to be coughing A LOT.

"And he's also colder than the average human." The doctor added. "We measured his temperature and it came back as 93.5 degrees Fahrenheit."

A long pause followed this.

"When can we see him?" Ben asked. Despite all the bad that followed, he was still happy that Johnny was alive.

The doctor smiled. "Actually, you can come see him now if you'd like." He said.

Everyone nodded, stood up, and followed the doctor down the hall to a room with the name Johnny Storm written beside it. Sue took a deep breath, and the door opened.

* * *

**Not over. I have plenty more mushy happy feeling on the way! Please review and tell me what you think of the story! I know it still hasn't gotten good yet, but hopefully.. :)**

**Thanks! **


	2. Chapter 2

**Thanks for the review! I'm glad you like it so far! I'm going to try to write as fast as possible, but I'm not as Fantastic as these 4 ;)**

**Anyways, hopefully I can make this into a really good fanfiction.. **

**Disclaimer: I don't own anything. Although I occasionally pretend that I do, I don't :/**

* * *

The door opened slowly, and the team couldn't help but grip their hands into fists with worry. They didn't want to see Johnny like the doctor described, but they obviously couldn't see him any other way. Well, except for Alicia, who relied on the others to tell her how Johnny looked.

Sue wanted to start crying when she walked in. There were beeping machines and weird wires going every which way to tell the doctors what was going on and how many times Johnny's heart was beating and stuff like that.

There was a large bed in the center of the room and chairs on the right and left side of the bed. Reed and Sue sat on the right side, while Alicia and Ben walked over to the left side and sat down, only for Ben's chair to break. Ben growled and gave to doctor a glare, and the doctor knew immediately that he need to find a new chair. He rushed off to find a chair, leaving the four people in the room with injured Johnny.

A few seconds after the doctor left, Reed shut the door with his long arms and Sue hugged him tightly. She couldn't help but feel sick to her stomach.

Johnny was still under sedation, so he was snoozing like a child. His right leg was wrapped in a cast and held up with a pillow beneath his leg. His shirt was gone, (Reed guessed they had thrown it out) and he had a blanket over him. What was visible of his torso was wrapped in bandages. There was an odd brace around his shoulder and collarbone, which Ben knew would soon be a point of mocking.

His arm left arm was in a sling to keep from causing any stress on his healing shoulder. His head was wrapped in bandages for his head injury, and he had a breathing tube across his face that went into his nose.

Sue couldn't keep looking at him, and just hugged Reed and looked at him.

Ben was telling Alicia that Johnny's nose had grown large and red, and that his face and head was swollen. He also said his enormous feet had turned purple and that his hands had shrunken to a child's size.

Reed shook his head at Ben, frowning at the joke in a serious moment. It wasn't like Ben. But then again, he probably wasn't feeling good since Johnny was shot and fell 40 feet.

Sue turned her head towards her brother, and watched him breathing slowly.

* * *

"His hands don't feel child sized!" A voice said.

Johnny began to blink, and realized that someone was holding his right hand.

"Compare them to mine," A much more gruff voice said.

"Oh! Yeah, you're right.." The first voice said.

"Guys! Can you please stop touching his hands? Wouldn't it be awkward if he woke up to see you holding his hands?" A new voice said.

_I know these voices.. _Johnny thoughts.

He opened his eyes and saw Alicia holding his hand and Ben's hand feeling each one. Reed and Sue were sitting down in chairs behind the two, and Reed was trying to get Ben and Alicia to sit down.

Sue looked back at Johnny as Alicia and Ben sat down, and saw his blue eyes were open. "Johnny! Are you awake?" She asked, scooting her chair forward.

Johnny began to turn his head slowly, and saw his sister. "H-hey ther-re.." He slurred quietly. He suddenly began to feel the pain in his body become much more real, and he winced. He felt his body throbbing at his heart's rate. His leg was lifted onto a pillow, and he immediately remembered everything that had happened.

_I was flying, and then.. then someone shot me. I looked over at Sue, and I remember feeling even colder than when I got accidentally locked in a freezer. One moment, I was looking at Sue, Reed, and Ben, and the next I was crashing into the ground, trying my best to tell myself nothing was wrong, and that it was just a little bruise. _

_But I knew it wasn't. _

_The others were almost immediately at my side, asking what hurt and telling me to 'hang on'. Yea, right, 'cause I'm just gonna tell myself it's time to die. No way! I've got a date with that waitress next weekend. _

"How d'you feel?" Reed asked.

He laughed, and found himself coughing. He started to sit up, and kept coughing, trying to stop. Reed helped him out by leaning up the hospital bed so that he wasn't laying flat, and he soon caught his breath. "To.. b-be honest.." His lips curled a little. "I f-feel like a g-guy wh-who ju-ust.. f-fell off a b-balcony.." He said, laying against the pillow behind his back.

Ben smiled a little, Reed kept his face serious (but secretly laughed inside), and Sue just stared at her brother sympathetically. _Why can't he just stay serious for once in his life? _She wondered. _Laughing makes it harder for him to breath, and here he is, laughing anyways. He doesn't care that it could damage his lungs, or make him need an oxygen tank! No, no, he cares that he 'lightens the mood'! _She thought angrily. _  
_

But when she looked into his eyes, she saw the pain underneath the blue irises. He must have been trying to calm her down. _He's making himself feel worse to make me feel better? _She wondered, almost feeling sorry for her younger brother. _He's still and idiot, though.. _A ghost of a smile imprinted itself on her face.

"I'll go see if I can find some food for all of us," Alicia offered, and Sue offered to join her, avoiding making her brother hurt himself more so she'll laugh.

Once they were gone, the real fun began.

"So h-how long am I s-stuck in thi-is stuff?" Johnny asked, trying to control his voice so he wasn't stuttering.

Reed thought a moment, and got up. "I'm not sure. I'd guess you would be in the braces for a few weeks, perhaps two months, depending on how bad the break is. Your leg I'd guess would be eight weeks, at least. And then there's the bullet wound.. which is simply wrapped in bandages and stitched up with 12 stitches."

Reed looked over all the machines, smiling curiously as he observed each one and figured out what each machine did. He watched as a red line hopped up and down, obviously measuring Johnny's heart rate.

Reed found something he believed measured how much air Johnny was breathing. He followed the cords to a tank, which connected to a clear tube, which was delivering air to Johnny. _Ingenious! They know how to measure how much oxygen he has, and give him as much as he needs! That's amazing, I wonder if I could make something like this, but for my laboratory? _

"Did y-you hear m-me?" Johnny said loudly, breaking Reed's thought process.

"Sorry, I was caught up in these machines.." Reed said as he left the machines he planned to make blueprints from. "What'd you say?"

"He asked what his injuries are." Ben told Reed, who had sat back down in his chair.

Johnny's eyes flashed gratefully to Ben.

Reed nodded. "The doctor said you have a broken leg, obviously you've figured that out." Johnny smiled and nodded. "You broke your left collarbone and shoulder, some of your ribs, and you endured head trauma, which the doctors don't really know the extent of yet."

"Is t-that all?" Johnny scoffed.

Reed raised his eyebrows. "All? You do realize that you fell forty feet and got shot? That's really lucky."

Johnny laughed a little, then started another coughing fit. It took him a moment, but he looked up with a still present smile. "C-clearly Suzie has-hasn't tol-ld you about m-my chi-ildhood!" He laughed a little more, coughing even harder and having to lean back his head to stop coughing.

"Let me guess.. you were one of _those _kids who had a motorcycle and a skateboard, and they had regular hospital visits?" Ben half-growled, half-laughed.

Johnny nodded. "You g-guessed righ-ight.." He said, breathing a bit raggedly.

A knock came at the door, and Sue and Alicia entered the room, each holding a bag of assorted bagels.

* * *

"Mmm," Ben said. "I love these!"

Alicia smiled. "I'm glad I grabbed the right type then."

"C-c'mon Suzie! W-why can't I ju-ust have o-one?" Johnny whined sorrowfully. His blue eyes pleaded with his sister.

She shook her head firmly. "The doctor doesn't want you to eat solid foods until you're healthier; plus your medicines will make you throw it up." Sue said, her mind made up.

"J-just le-let me have o-one!" Johnny said more firmly, holding out his right hand.

"No." She said, pulling the bag of bagels away from him and putting them on the ground beside her chair.

He growled. "It wo-wouldn't eve-en matter th-though.."

Sue's eyes shined defiantly. "I'll bet that's what you said to yourself when you jumped off the balcony!" She shouted. Her heart was pounding, and all she heard after that was the air that followed her words. No one knew what to say.

Johnny's eyes flashed with pain and he gripped his hands into fists, headstrong. "N-no. I th-thought yo-ou wou-ould need he-help ge..getting the..." Johnny's breathing became more ragged. "Shoo..ooter!"

His eyelids were beginning to droop and he was swaying in his seat. He stared down at the blankets on his bed, trying to focus his vision better.

"Well maybe you should have just listened to us!" Sue hadn't noticed the fact that her brother was swaying, or breathing heavily, or even looking up. "Maybe if you hadn't thought only about getting a shooter and thinking about the dangers that might be caused when you started flying- an easy target!"

He glared up at her. "The...en maybe I sh..ould.. j-just sto..op b-being th..the Human T-Torch.." He threatened weakly.

Sue hadn't expected him to say this. At first, she was going to tell him that she took it back, but then she thought.. since he had joined the team, only danger had come to him. _He's already broken his foot with an X-box, sprained his wrist, nearly killed by a heat seeking missile, dropped 40 feet when he got touched by that silver surfer, and now this. What if.. what if he should just.. quit? Is that what he needs? _

Reed spoke instead of her. "We need you."

"Besides," Ben spoke. "What words start with t? The Terrific Three? I don't think so!" He hoped his joke may make Johnny smile or laugh or cough or stop thinking about quitting, but Johnny didn't seem to change his mind.

"Yo..ou guys a-are alwa-ays... always saying th-that I'm n-not mat..ure," He countered, his breathing worse than ever, but only one person seemed to notice this.

"Johnny, can you breath alright?" Alicia asked, her hearing being more tuned than the others, since she relied on it more than them.

His eyes lost their anger as he looked at Alicia. "Fi...fine." He answered. _Whoa, she's the only person here not angry at me.. _

Reed and Sue forgot about the fight they had been having with Johnny and their minds flooded with worries.

"Really, can you breath okay?" Reed asked, walking back over the machine he had been playing with before the bagels had arrived. He saw that something red was blinking, and realized whatever he had pressed when he was looking at the machine had messed it up.

Johnny looked fearfully up at Reed, who was staring at the machine. Johnny could tell something was wrong. "Wh-what is it?" His chest was rising and falling rapidly.

"How well can you breath right now?" Sue asked again. Apparently neither of them had been paying attention to her.

Johnny started speak, but instead he started coughing really hard. He coughed and coughed, trying to speak, but instead squinted his eyes in pain. His face started turning red, and Reed ran to the nurse call button.

Everyone started buzzing around the room, trying to fix whatever had happened, when a nurse arrived. She sighed and walked over to the machine. She started pressing buttons, and Johnny's face turned back to it's original pale color. He eventually stopped coughing, and the nurse decided that it would be better if he rested.

She escorted the much less fantastic three and Alicia out of the room, and gave Johnny his sedative.

"You can come back tonight or tomorrow, but I wouldn't come back before 6." The nurse told them.

And with that, they left the hospital, all minds on Johnny still.

* * *

**Still not done! Obviously ;)**

**I'll post the rest later, but for now, I gotta go!**

**Stay healthy! :3**


	3. Chapter 3

**HI EVERYONE! So I've noticed I only have one review so far.. :/ Anyone wanna help me out there?**

**IMPORTANT**So I thought this might be confusing, so I'll write it out: When Johnny says stuff and there is a .. in the middle of the world (ex: "I.. di..dn't w-want to sa..ay") the ellipsis(the dots...) is when he's taking a breath. In case you just like reading aloud ;) **

**Anyways, I am now taking requests. I need to know what else to do in the story, since I don't want it to be too boring. Since you guys don't like reviewing for me (sniffle) you can PM me, and I'll respond pretty soon and throw your idea in. **

**So, to the story! :D**

* * *

"It's three-oclock.." Sue mumbled to herself. She wasn't really in the mood to speak to her brother after their little fight, but then again, she really didn't want to ignore him. After all, she loved him. Despite what an idiot he can be.

_Was he serious? _She wondered. _Was he really thinking about quitting? What else would he do- barbecue? No, he wouldn't stoop that low. He'd probably take pictures with kids or women for money. He might even show off his flying. He'd find a way to fly people around without burning them. _

_But he wouldn't quit, would he? No.. that was only a threat. He didn't mean it. He couldn't breath. He's on drugs. Something is wrong, obviously. He wouldn't ever in his right mind say that. But then again, he's never had a right mind. Or a mind, for that matter. _

Nobody felt like eating. Nobody felt like talking, except for Ben. Reed had confided in Sue that, "Ben is probably in shock of what happened, so he is acting insane. Like if someone's parents were killed in front of them, then they would go insane. Except, he's insane because Johnny got injured and nearly died. It'll probably clear up once Johnny is back on his feet and being crazy again."

Reed had decided not to make blueprints for the oxygen controller, since he had nearly made Johnny go without air for a little while. He hadn't known what to do, so he went to what cleared his head best: science and math. He started calculating little equations he hadn't finished for his current projects. He thought for a moment, not being able to focus.

_Why can't I focus on this? It's not like I've ever not been able to focus before. Even when the T.V. was on, Johnny and Ben were fighting, and Sue was talking to me about something I wasn't listening to; I finished ten pages back and front of perfect calculations. But now... _

He sighed. _I guess even then, my mind wasn't this confused. I'm not even sure what to do anymore. _Reed convinced himself that he hadn't slept in 12.34592... hours, and decided that it might help him to think more reasonably if he were to take a nap.

Reed got up from his desk and walked towards his couch, plunking onto it with a loud thud, and laying down. He turned over, and tried sleeping. _When traveling at light speed.. light.. fire.. could Johnny travel as fast as light speed if put up to it? _Reed growled and turned to the other side, relieving his mind of any thoughts. He decided that if it worked for Ben... _One sheep.. two sheep.. three sheep.. four sheep... _

And his mind was lost to a world of snores.

Ben couldn't help but eat everything in the fridge and imagine the jokes that Johnny would make. _Hey, big boy, eating enough for all of us now, I see? That's really considerate! _Ben laughed to himself. He continued eating, knowing it probably wouldn't matter since he's a rock. _  
_

But a suddenly sad thought struck Ben.. _What if Johnny really meant that he didn't want to be the Human Torch anymore? What if he really doesn't want to be part of our team? Darn it.. why would he do that to us? I guess we did treat him that way... telling him he shouldn't have gone out. Telling him that he should have just stayed in bed. _

_But that was all Sue! _Ben growled, now in denial. _It wasn't my fault! It was all Sue's fault! At least I was lightening the mood like Johnny would have! He was laughing at the jokes! Even Reed told Johnny that he shouldn't quit! Sue didn't say anything. _

_Thank goodness Alicia was there, otherwise none of us would have noticed the fact Johnny wasn't breathing right. I always knew I had made a right choice when I chose her. She really is something special. _

He paused his eating and allowed his love to blossom as he thought about Alicia, the true love of his life. She was caring, smart, and she was really nice. The best thing about her was that she was blind. And despite the fact that she was blind, she made art! She loved him too.

Ben sighed, a happy smile at his lips. Then he suddenly remembered what he was growling about.

_I wonder how we can convince Johnny to stay? Do we need to convince him? Maybe he wasn't even serious. I guess.. I guess I really shouldn't be thinking about it right now, since he was under medicine, and probably wasn't thinking clearly. _

Ben moaned. _I wish I knew! _He looked to the kitchen clock and was suddenly ecstatic. "It's 6:42!" He cried.

He dropped all the leftover food into the fridge and walked quickly to Reed's lab, where Reed had been napping for the past two hours.

"Reed?" Ben said in his low-growl voice. "It's 6:42. We can go see Johnny now,"

Reed was standing up within seconds, ready to talk to Johnny. But then, the memories of their last visit sank into his heart. He wondered if he should go, or if it would cause more of a fight?

"Alright, I'm coming." He said, putting on a false smile. He had to go see Johnny sometime, so he might as well go now. He grabbed his brown jacket and walked into the living room. Sue was fazed out of reality and watching a soap opera that Johnny had before used in one of his jokes, calling it 'drab'. She had to admit, that she agreed.

"Sue?" Reed called his wife.

She looked up and saw that they were putting on their coats, and she gripped her fists firmly. "I'm going to stay here." Sue said, staring away from them. "Tell Johnny I say hi." She growled a little.

Reed and Ben both knew not to argue, and headed for the elevator.

* * *

"We're here to see Johnny Storm." Ben said to the nurse behind the counter.

She looked up to see who was growling at her, and felt her heart buzz with joy as she realized it was Mr. Fantastic and The Thing at her desk.

"O-of course!" She said, smiling and pulling at her ponytail nervously. "Right this way!" She said, jumping from her seaT and running to show them to the door.

She walked to the room, and then sighed angrily. "I don't have the key to this room.."

"Huh?" Both boys said.

"Since the Human Torch is a celebrity, we're giving him complete privacy. Nobody is allowed in unless the head doctor has given them a key." She confided in them. "Excuse me a moment while I find Dr. Finop," She said, bustling off down the hall.

Reed chuckled quietly. "Ingenious! They've created a whole new generator to obscure a specific coding which reacts to the laser device which creates a panel to unlock the trigger!" He said, examining the inside of a bulky black box beneath the door handle.

"Not only that," A voice from behind them said. They both spun around. "But it also recognizes different cards. Some for nurses, some for doctors, and it monitors their looks specifically after they open the door to make sure it's the right person." A rather hefty man with graying black hair and a gray mustache said, smiling broadly. "Took quite a long time to program, that did." He said, pointy at the black box.

The man held out his hand. "I'm Hector Finop, but you can call me Dr. Finop if you'd like."

Reed shook his hand, but Ben just smiled and nodded.

Reed started "I'm-"

"You're Reed Richards, and that's Benjamin Grimm." Dr. Finop said, smiling. "My daughter has a _massive _crush on Johnny Storm, and all that I've heard since you all saved that bridge related to you people." He said, chuckling.

Ben and Reed laughed out of politeness, really only wanting the door to be opened.

"How old is your daughter?" Ben asked, trying to be nice.

Dr. Finop smiled merrily. "She's sixteen," He pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose. "And she believes she knows everything!" He laughed once more, while Ben and Reed just chuckled politely, because anxious for the door to open.

"Do you happen to have the key?" Reed asked, as nicely as physically possible.

Dr. Finop looked hurt by this, but opened the door, stood in front as a camera examined him, and then allowed Ben and Reed into the new room they had given Johnny.

"Thanks!" Ben said to the doctor as the doctor left, and shut the door.

The new room they gave Johnny looked more like a hotel suite. On the wall, Reed read a small piece of words that had been painted over in attempt to hide. They said, _Mental Ward. _Well that made sense. They had turned the huge mental ward into Johnny's own suite.

Ben glanced around. He and Reed were standing in a hallway that led into a bedroom area with a lot of padding on the walls. There was also a bathroom that looked like it belonged inside of a hotel room.

"G-guys!" Johnny said happily, clicking off his television on the wall and looking at them, his blue eyes showing how desperate he was for company. "How c-come it t-took yo-ou so l-long?" He asked, his lips curling.

Reed saw that there were four chairs beside Johnny's bed: one that seemed to be made out of steel (obviously to hold the man of rock) and three lazy-boys. Reed and Ben took their seats, and looked at Johnny.

Johnny attempted to sit up by himself to see them, but ended up having Reed press the button to lift up the back support with his stretched out wrist. "Th-thanks.." Johnny mumbled.

"W-where's Suzie?" Johnny asked, looking around with regret.

Reed sighed and looked to Ben, who merely shook his head, as though saying _You tell him, not me!_

"She.. decided that she didn't want a catastrophic epidemic to be caused like the previous encounter." Reed said quickly, hoping Johnny understood.

Johnny stared at him. "W-was it my h-head trau..auma, or c-could I really just not un..dersta-and all th-that?"

Ben shrugged. "Don't look at me, I'm not a scientist. That was Sue."

"She decided.." Reed said, dumbing his last statement down. "That she didn't want to fight again." He said, hoping this time it would make sense.

"O-oh.." Johnny whispered, crestfallen. "She's th..that mad at m..me, huh?" He looked back up at them.

"But she says hi!" Ben interjected with a smile, trying to lighten the mood again.

Johnny laughed, and started coughing. Ben and Reed both sat forward in their chairs, anticipating a need for a nurse. Johnny held up his pointer finger to tell them to give him a second. He coughed a little more, and shook his head. "H..hate it wh..en that ha..happens!" He growled, then looked up brightly. "I s-see Ben ha..has taken m-my place as co..comic rel..ief!" He joked.

Ben and Reed simply chuckled.

"Nobody tells jokes like you, Matchstick." Ben replied. "That's why we need you."

An awful silence fell in the room.

"You didn't.. actually want to quit, did you?" Reed asked, his voice becoming much bolder.

Johnny stared at his blankets, thoughts going through his head and soaring through to be replaced by new ones. He frowned, and turned his head towards them. "I.. d-don't kno..ow," He whispered, thoughts still going on. "I d-didn't wa..ant to qu-quit, but.." He took a moment to breath, his thoughts now made up. "I j-just thou..ought that S-Susan wou..ould be h-happier seein-ing me n-not battlin-ing eve..very.. d-day.." He said, his hands balling up into fists.

He looked up, his face so pale that his blue eyes were bright as ever. "D-d'you gu..uys t-think I.. shou..ould.." He coughed for a second, his throat feeling dry. He swallowed, trying to make his throat less dry. After a moment, he continued, "qu..quit?"

Reed shook his head vigorously, and Ben immediately shouted, "NO!"

But then, doubts began to fall upon Ben and Reed's minds. Reed remembered the time Johnny had accidentally lit his lab on fire, and Reed had barely been able to recover his works. Ben mentally reviewed all of the various pranks Johnny had pulled on him.

They looked to one another, then decided not to say anything more.

"Johnny, you are a great help-and we need you on our team," Reed said. "Plus your altered deoxyribonueclayicacid still has yet to be searched underneath a 5000 magnification beside a diatom!"

Both Ben and Johnny stared.

"W-what?!" Johnny shouted, immediately regretting it. He started coughing, his insides feeling like they were about to break from how hard he was coughing.

He felt a horrible pain in his lungs and side, where his broken ribs still stayed. He felt like crying, but no way was he going to let Ben see him cry. He bent over in pain, coughing what little air he had left, and leaned backwards against the support, breathing heavily, a wince present on his face.

Reed immediately felt guilty as Ben glared at him and Johnny tried to breath. _Twice now! _

A loud beeping came from a strange machine, which (thankfully for Reed) had nothing to do with Johnny's oxygen.

Johnny started turning paler and paler, until there was nothing to see but his eyes and a majority of freckles and scars. He was gritting his teeth in pain, and he looked to them both, his eyes saying, _Please Help Me! _

Reed wasted no time in pressing the nurse call button, when several nurses ran into the room. They looked to the chart, and began their work.

Ben felt sick to his stomach as he watched nurses putting needles into Johnny's wrist and placing wires on his torso, while another put a thermometer in his mouth.

Reed and Ben weren't noticed at the moment, since everyone was working on keeping Johnny up and going. Reed watched Johnny, who looked ready to cry because of the needles and I.V.s in his wrist and blood samples being drawn simultaneously.

Ben and Reed wanted to run from this image that was now placed in their eyes, but they caught one glance from Johnny's eyes, and knew that he needed them.

Dr. Finop had walked into the room, working on charts and writing down notes, until his eyes stared wearily at the results. He looked distressed.

"What's wrong?!" Ben shouted, running to Hector Finop.

Dr. Finop sighed, and looked up. "It seems," They all glanced at Johnny, who looked utterly miserable. "His situation has just gotten worse."

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**DUN-DUN-DUN! ;)**

**Anyways, here's where you guys come in! I wanted some ideas on what you think the problem could be! Any nurses out there? Well I have some ideas of my own, but I wanted to know what you guys thought might be a good thought for this story!**

**PM me or, my favorite choice, Review me! :D**

**THANKS! **


	4. Chapter 4

**Thanks for all the reviews guys! It means a ton to me! **

**So this chapter, I'm going to try to add more: Sue/Reed fluff, More of a sentimental Sue, and some Johnny thoughts? This should get interesting! :)**

**Keep the reviews coming, and ENJOY! **

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"Reed!" Sue shouted, running into the waiting room where Ben and Reed sat. "Where's Johnny? What's wrong with him? Is he okay?" She said, sprinting towards him.

He only let his head droop as he stared at the floor. He didn't know how to explain any of it, since he didn't even understand most of it. All he remembered was the doctor telling him something had gone wrong, and that they needed to leave so that they could work on Johnny.

It all happened liked a flash after that. Nurses asked Reed and Ben to leave, but neither of them wanted to leave. Johnny didn't want them to leave either. He tried to speak, to tell the doctors that he wanted them in the room, but he only coughed awfully.

Ben said he wouldn't leave, and nurses began pulling him and Reed out of the room forcefully. Ben nearly hit one of them, but then he realized that even if he did stay, or even if he did hit them, Johnny's condition wouldn't become any better.

"Johnny.." Reed whispered, looking up into Sue's blue eyes. "He.. " Reed thought a moment. "Something went wrong. The doctor didn't say what, but he did say his condition has gotten worse."

Sue's eyes filled with tears, and she gripped her hands into fists. "I have to know if he's alright!" She said, walking towards the door where Johnny was.

A nurse saw Sue, and walked over towards her before she could get to the door.

"Mrs. Richards-" The nurse said, trying to comfort Sue.

"No! I have to see Johnny!" Sue said, walking around the nurse to get to the door.

"M'am, you can't go-"

"Don't tell me what I can't do!" Sue shouted at the woman, face to face.

"Mrs. Richards," The nurse said, raising her voice and her eyes glaring at Sue. "I am sorry, but you cannot go in there."

Sue was about to shout again, but instead fell to her knees and started crying. She looked back at Reed and Ben, who followed after her. Reed wrapped his arms around her in a comforting hug. She turned and cried on his shoulder, not knowing what she can do.

"But.." She cried, looking up a the lady, who was looking down at Sue sympathetically. "He's my.. he's my little brother!" She sniffled, tightening her hold on Reed.

The nurse squatted down beside them. "I can understand that. But you can't go in there right now. They're in the middle of surgery, and despite how much you want to see your younger brother, you can't go in there."

"W-why not?" Susan sobbed, bubbling with tears. Reed still thought she was beautiful, even sniffling with tears sliding down her cheeks.

"Well," The nurse said. "It could allow some types of germs into the room, or it may distract the doctors so that they do something wrong, it might even cause you to feel even worse." The nurse explained, her voice much softer than before. "I've seen families enter the rooms during a surgery, and they break down. One person actually began to vomit,"

Sue frowned a bit, and stared at the floor. "Then can you tell me what's wrong with him, or if he's in danger of dying?" She looked up at the nurse, her eyes begging for information.

The nurse hesitated, then looked over her shoulder. She made sure that the hallway was empty, and she spoke. "I'm not absolutely sure," she whispered, watchful for doctors or other nurses. "but I heard from Dr. Finop that his lungs were so cold, that ice was beginning to form on the bronchi." (**A/N: not sure if I spelled bronchi right, but I hope you all understand what that is**)

A few doctors began walking down the hall, and the nurse stood up, pretending as though she hadn't said anything.

"I'm sorry miss," The nurse said loudly. "But I can't allow you in this room. Please wait in the waiting room." She said, escorting Sue, Reed, and Ben back to the waiting room.

Everyone was silent for a moment, until they turned towards one another.

"What's a bronchi?" Ben asked, fearful of the answer.

Reed looked at him. "It's a structure that goes into the lungs, and it's where you find alveoli." Reed stared at the floor, his mind traveling faster than ever. "So whenever he coughs, it endangers him of puncturing his lung with ice. And when his body heat begins to rise, it melts the ice, causing him to cough more, and more ice is created.." Reed told them. "But the weird thing is, I doubt that it's even possible!"

Sue started to cry a little more. "Do you think that he already punctured his lung?"

Reed mentally reviewed. "I doubt it. I mean," he looked at Sue and wiped away one of her tears. "He hasn't coughed up any blood, which usually happens when someone punctures their lungs."

"But, that doesn't seem like it could happen!" Ben said, gripping a fist. "I mean, he is the Human Torch, right? So then, how on earth could ice be on his brony-things?"

"Well," Reed said, turning towards Ben now. "It could be the coldness he was originally feeling. I'm not sure what it is, but I'll bet that it's some kind of virus created to affect Johnny." Reed said thoughtfully. "In fact, I wonder if that ice is not in fact natural, but chemical?" He said, a whole new idea opening up.

Susan merely stared down at the floor, her heart beating quickly. "But why would anyone want to hurt Johnny? Why would anyone want this awful thing to happen?"

"Why would Doom want to attack us and send the town into complete chaos?" Ben countered.

They all sat together, their minds racing in different directions as though the wind were blowing away leaves.

* * *

Johnny woke up breathing funny. He felt all the weird wires in his nose and down his throat, making him curious as to what they did.

He immediately opened his eyes, and looked around. His room was the same, but instead of a simple T.V. remote at his feet, there were three nurses, all of them doing something different. One of them was doing something with a huge machine that was beeping with odd numbers. _Looks like Reed's lab,_ Johnny thought to himself.

The other two nurses were talking about something called a bronchi and something about ice. He gulped nervously, hoping he wasn't so hot that they were about to dump him in some ice.

As he awoke more he realized that there was tape holding wires to his face and new bandages across his chest.

Johnny started pulling at the wires taped to his face and quickly a hand grabbed his and put it back forcefully. He looked around to see who was touching him, but the person had already let go.

He stared at the ladies, and tried to speak. "C-ca-an I g-ge-et so-ome h-hel-lp?"

They all looked over to him. The two that had been talking about ice and bronchi, _whatever that means, _came over to his side.

"What's wrong?" One asked. She had long brown hair and a chubby figure.

"I w-want-ted t-to si-it u-up." He slurred, the tubes causing a lot of trouble for him.

The other nurse, who was also chubby but instead had short blond hair, began pressing various buttons on the side of the bed, making it beep and begin to elevate. It only lifted him so far, and to that Johnny was thankful. _Whatever happened to my stomach really hurts. I wonder what happened! _

"Wh-wha-at ha-appen-ed h-he-ere?" He asked in a croaky whisper, pointing to the bandages across his stomach.

The nurses thought for a moment, trying to decipher what that meant, when the other one chimed in.

"We had to surgically remove ice that had formed itself on the bronchi." The nurse said. She was tall, but average sized. Not skinny, not fat. Johnny smiled. _I wonder if I could convince her to go out with me? _

"Th-than-nks.." Johnny mumbled quietly. He tried sitting up a little more, and felt as though it were ripping apart his stomach. "Wh-en ca-an I s-see m-my fr-ien-nds?"

Thankfully for Johnny, the nurse understood exactly what he said. "I assume they can come in now, but there are some rules."

"R-rul-ules are m-made to b-be br-ok-ken," He whispered, his lips curling mischievously.

"These rules," She said, emphasizing the superiority. "Are not to be broken. You can't laugh, because it _will _lead to coughing, which will end in more surgery." Johnny gulped fearfully. "You may not sit up any further, because you will rip the stitches," He rolled his eyes. Like he'd do that. "And lastly, you can not brush off any pain you are feeling or if something feels wrong."

This caught his attention.

"I know that when you couldn't breath, you knew about it. But you didn't say anything until it was too late. The same with last time. You knew you were coughing, yet you didn't tell anyone that something was wrong." She said, her eyes completely serious.

He waved his uninjured hand at her impatiently. "A-alri-ight!"

She stepped towards him. "Another thing.." She said. She untapped a cord from his face and pulled it, hard. An oxygen tube came out of his throat, causing him to gag for a moment, and then stare at her, his eyebrows furrowed.

She smiled mischievously. "Might make it easier to talk without this thing."

He cleared his throat. "Th-thanks." He smiled. _Much better. _

"I'll go get your friends." She said, leaving the room and shutting the door.

He smiled at the chubby nurses, who were giggling and looking over at him. _Well, maybe this whole thing wasn't awful.. _He said, shining his perfect 'Johnny Storm' teeth.

* * *

**Obviously I haven't added in the rest of the mushy ****happiness between Johnny and Sue, but I need to get off now.. Hopefully you all like it so far!**

**I'll be back soon enough!**

**Review pleaseeee!**


	5. Chapter 5

**Hi everyone! *ducks from angry mob's pitchforks being thrown* I am so so so sorry it is so late, but I haven't been online for a while. It's been back and forth with term papers and research reports, and then a week or so ago I settled in to write, and my laptop went and died on me. I had to order a whole new adapter for it, and here I am.**

**Sorry again, and I do hope this chapter will make up for it all! **

**Thanks, Read it, and of course, pretty please send up some reviews!**

* * *

Johnny's eyes flashed around the room, taking in every detail. Whatever kind of meds they had him on, they were definitely making him hyper. He knew that if he got too hyper in front of Sue or Ben or Reed even, that they would probably get worried, and that was never any good.

So, he decided he'd try to calm himself down. He heard muffled voices in the hallway, and began to get more excited. He took deep breaths and closed his eyes, imagining that nothing was happening. That, in fact, he was simply sitting in bed, and his.. what was he supposed to call them? Friends? Family? Team? Whatever they were, coming to say good morning.

He peeked at the window and realized it was a bit late for good morning, and went ahead and decided he would make it good afternoon to be safe.

The nurse who had just moments previously yanked a cord out of Johnny's throat opened the door, and Sue ran to Johnny. She crushed him in a big-sister hug, only to realize seconds later that his should had been broken and he had broken ribs. She released her tight grip and instead held him tenderly, wanting to cry.

Johnny attempted to hug her back, only to wince and have her retreat to the chair they had gotten for her. Sue was still angry at him for their last fight, but she was also so happy to have him back. She had been so worried. She wanted to cry for him, wondering how he was doing, but she knew that if she tried to speak the would only sob.

"How are you?" Reed said, placing his arm on Sue's shoulder, feeling empathetic towards his wife.

Johnny lifted his shoulders in a half shrug, and only when he was in mid-movement did he suddenly remember his broken shoulder. He struggled not to wince or frown, ending up just looking away from every for a split second long enough to regain his smile.

"B..een bett..er" He said, his lips curling.

Sue rolled her eyes. "Have you been coughing a lot? Can you breath steadily?"

Johnny stopped smiling. "Sis, I'm f-fine.." He said in a quiet voice.

"I'm just making sure." She told him. "So did you just now wake up?"

He didn't feel his throat was up to making chit-chat, so he simply nodded. His mind thought up a question, "H-how lo-ong ha-ave I b-been ou..out?"

Sue, Ben and Reed all looked to one another, attempting to confirm at what time Johnny had entered surgery and what time it was now. Reed ran a mental number count, and finally replied after much calculation, "I believe you were given a sedative about 15.893876262 repeated hours ago, and if you just woke up recently, then-"

"About 16 hours." Ben said, shaking his head at Reed's overpowering answer.

Johnny nodded. "H-have you a-all be-en here tha-at ent..ire time?"

"Yea, mostly." Ben responded.

Sue snorted. "Ben fell asleep about 6 hours ago, and woke up just 2 hours ago." She said, sounding a bit superior.

Johnny snorted too, struggling not to laugh. He ended up losing to a loud snicker, leaving him coughing. He glared at Sue with a smile. "Qu..quit that!"

She bit her lip, knowing that he was only joking around, but she also felt a bit bad about it. She saw he really didn't care that it hurt him, so long at she was smiling.

It made her feel bad about herself, knowing that her brother was okay hurting if she was happy..

But that made him the lovable ball of fire that he was.

* * *

**Epilogue**

****"_Come on!_" Johnny growled. He had been freed of the hospital, his temperature back up to a wonderful 178 degrees, making all the doctors freak out until Reed assured them that was alright.

His leg was still demanding, but he could walk on it now. He limped, of course, but he was happier to be able to walk. Johnny's shoulder was still healing, but he had gotten to take off the sling and use him arm (with limits, to his disappointment). His ribs still hurt when he laughed too hard, but he didn't pay much attention to that.

He spoke with a single pause now, so happy that he could get out full sentences before everyone fell asleep. The bullet wound was healed almost completely, but Johnny found with great disappointment that his wound lined up with the door handle for his door. He had hurt his side at least five times in the last three days, but Reed had kindly installed a pillow like door handle instead of the metal one.

Johnny was currently arguing with his team, insisting on going with them as they were leaving to go catch a simple robber. Sue gave him an evil-eye look, and he zipped his lip.

He moaned loudly, and beside him Alicia laughed a little. "Now you see how I feel when Ben leaves me in the car while he crushed someone." She said, her smile flickering happily.

"I can at least stand outside with you, right? Can't I just stand beside you when the press comes to take photos? I've been cooped up in here for 2 weeks, and no one knows that Johnny Storm is even alive!" He whined, looking outside at the growing paparazzi.

"You can stay in the car." Sue replied, walking out the door quickly.

"Does that mean I can drive us there?" He said, his eyes lighting up.

"It means you can stay in the car." She said bluntly.

"Can I talk down at the criminal and call him ridiculous names?" He practically begged.

"_You can stay in the car_." Sue hissed dangerously.

Johnny sighed as he got inside the car.

* * *

"WHAT DID I TELL YOU?!" Sue growled at Johnny as he smiled heroically for the cameras.

He laughed. "You looked like you were getting tired, so.. I caught your bad guy." He said, his blue eyes widening innocently. "I didn't want you to overexert yourself!"

She glared up at him, about to overexert something, when Reed and Ben caught up.

"That.. was.. exhausting!" Ben said, breathing heavily.

"What happened?" Reed asked.

"That, ugh, didn't listen an caught the bad guy anyways." she growled, frustrated.

Ben and Reed exchanged glances. Reed was about to begin scolding him, but he didn't really see what was wrong. Johnny was almost completely healed, so what was the damage if he helped by catching the bad guy?

"You guys!" Sue growled at them, waiting for them to scold Johnny.

"Well, Susan, if he is healed as well as he is now," Ben said, but she shut him down.

"He isn't healed!" She said loudly and angrily.

Reed stepped in. "His leg is healed well enough he can walk, and his shoulder is healed so he can use it. The only thing left is his ribs, but I imagine those aren't really broken, since he hasn't punctured any of his internal organs which would require a broken rib or a sharp object."

Sue stumbled for reasons she could correct or contradict them, but simply sighed and turned to her brother. "Just be careful, would you?"

He smiled. "Of course, sis." He turned happily, and shouted, "FLAME ON!"

They smiled and started to walk to the car, when a thud sounded and a very familiar "OUCH!" sounded behind them. They all turned, their eyes wide and jaws dropped.

_Here it goes again! _Sue thought with a twinge of guilt.

* * *

**LOL. Had to throw in that ending. It was just my own joke, so..**

**Sorry it's so short, and sorry it took me so long. But I do have reasons.**

**Please please please review! It'll make my day! Even if it's a simple 'good story' I'll be happy! THANKS FOR READING ME FANFIC!**

**Keep your eyes peeled in case I do another fantastic four fanfic, and be healthy!**


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